it was 1977

[Westerngeneral]

it was 1977 I was playing on the Tarzan swing myself it snapped bang I hit the ground with my head I was nearly thirteen I don’t know how long I was lying there little did I know then the bleed on my left front side of my brain I remember feeling the bleed when I ran but didn’t know what it was eventually the bleed took over my health and I was being sick and all that stuff eventually through peer pressure my doctor sent me to hospital he came back to my mother and apologised my mother said don’t doubt a mother’s intuition because she knows when her child is seriously ill I was taken to the sick children’s hospital in Edinburgh I got various tests lumbar puncture etc the a clever doctor gave me ultrasound on the head after I got that all hell broke loose I was transferred to the western general hospital Edinburgh under police escort my mum told me this the staff where waking me up every half hour asking me various things maybe to keep my brain active the next day I was taken to the theatre and operated on and I can remember seeing that very very bright light and that peaceful feeling and floating above myself looking at the operating table with me on it I have a scar on my head from ear to ear my surgeon was John Fraser Shaw a paediatric neurosurgeon he is dead now and I’m nearly 60 Mr shaw was 55 when he saved my life I ended up becoming an alcoholic but I’ve been 11 years sober now and I’m into fitness again and I work full time at a job I was discharged from the hospital in one week after the operation after they took the blood clot out I was like a rocket to the moon it took me a long time to recover I was an outpatient at the hospital for eight years after that

[catrabb1t]

it sounds like you and your family have been through a lot! I have read several accounts of how neuro surgeons from years ago did a good job for their patients. It is good to read.

You are now in a good place and I see you have a full-time job which is amazing! Well done on being alcohol free - no easy thing.

Do you struggle with some aspects of your injury now? Or is it hard to know.